


Paper Snowflakes

by sweetheartshumjr



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: 12 Days of Christmas, Brother Feels, Brotherly Bonding, Brotherly Love, Christmas Decorations, Christmas Fluff, Cinnamon Roll Newt Scamander, Cinnamon Roll Theseus Scamander, Family Bonding, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Fluff, Insecure Theseus Scamander, Sibling Bonding, Sibling Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-21
Updated: 2018-12-21
Packaged: 2019-09-24 06:39:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17095709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweetheartshumjr/pseuds/sweetheartshumjr
Summary: Day 8: Paper Snowflakes





	Paper Snowflakes

**Author's Note:**

> All thanks to my amazing beta [knaveryact ](https://archiveofourown.org/users/knaveryact)

For a wizarding family, the Scamanders had a strange fondness for doing simple tasks the muggle way. Sometimes the things that they would have been able to do with a single spell, they preferred to approach manually and without magic instead. It was mostly their father’s idea; he claimed it helped them blend in with the muggle society. It was a good idea, technically… most of the time, though, they would do that in the privacy of their own home, where no muggles were to be seen anyway.

The most important part, though, was that the family liked this. Well, most of them; Theseus not included. Sure, he did understand the importance and the idea behind it… the problem was much more mundane. He simply lacked certain manual skills. Like in this case, sitting in the middle of the living room, struggling with a pair of scissors. To think he could just wave a wand, and…

It was finally the time to decorate the house for Christmas and Mrs. and Mr. Scamander thought it would be a great idea for their sons to do some handmade decorations, just for the sentimental reasons. And so here they were, with paper, scissors, glue, and crayons.

Newt was pretty happy about this. In a moment he became completely immersed in his work, so much he seemed to have forgotten about the world around, focused on impressing his parents. Even his bangs, constantly covering his eyes, couldn’t bother him. On the other side, Theseus was looking helplessly at his sheet of paper. If only he took his wand and… he knew just a spell that could help him make something pretty. But no, he was doomed to only use his hands and he already knew that would end in a disaster. Theseus hated being helpless more than anything in the world, and that was exactly how he felt. Angrily he folded the paper and began cutting.

He knew he was too much of a perfectionist, but didn’t even attempt to do with this. And it didn’t stem from his parents putting pressure on him, quite the opposite; he was well aware they would appreciate the effort, all the same, no matter the final product. Stupid, stupid ambition.

Theseus tried to channel this stress and frustration into his paper snowflake, simultaneously trying to avoid cutting himself with the metal scissors. When it reached its peak, he was actually afraid to open the thing up to see what kind of crime against the manual art he has made.

Nervously he glanced in Newt’s direction, who also seemed to have been finished. When he felt Theseus’ eyes, he curiously looked at his brother’s piece of cut paper. Theseus sat straighter, clearing his throat, hoping it would cover up his nervousness. But Newt completely ignored his behavior and kept staring at his… work.

“Open it!” he said. Theseus shook his head nervously; now Newt had to notice something was up with Theseus. He raised his head and did something that Newt absolutely knew his older brother couldn’t resist: he gave him a puppy look. “Please, ‘Seus!” he added in the sweetest tone the ten-year-old could muster.

Theseus rolled his eyes. Damn his little brother and his puppy eyes. “Fine,” he sighed, but before he opened the paper he said: “But you first!”

“Okay!” Newt said cheerfully and handed him his work. It was a hand drawn picture of their kneazle sleeping on a cushion, and for a ten-year-old, it looked really good. Theseus was actually surprised by the accuracy of certain details; like the way its tail would wrap around itself, or how its right ear would always be a little bit lower than the left one. He clearly paid a lot of attention to the damned thing. How was he supposed to compete with something like this?

“It’s amazing, Newtty!” He said looking at him, who quickly dropped his eyes, blushing a little. Despite his anxiety, Theseus smiled to himself. Newt was never the one who would take a compliment well.

“It’s your turn now,” Newt said after collecting himself.

Theseus took a deep breath and anxiously opened the paper snowflake. The first thing he noticed was how… imperfect it was. Well, maybe it wasn’t completely awful, but… The shapes were uneven, probably because of him struggling with the scissors. Some of the remaining strands of paper looked so weak as if they could tear from the tiniest gust of wind. Theseus sighed. He just expected more from himself.

“Wow! It’s really good!” He heard Newt say. Startled he looked at him, furrowing his brows. No, it’s not, he wanted to say, but then he noticed Newt’s eyes, shining brightly, clearly amazed by something he saw in Theseus’ work. So instead of saying out loud what he thought, instead of starting to tear himself apart, he just asked: “What do you like in this?”

“It looks so pretty!” Newt said reaching for the snowflake. Theseus quickly gave it to him. “Like, wow! They are so symmetrical! And… ” He paused, looking at the snowflake from a distance. “…from here it looks like a tree… And from here…” He turned the snowflake upside down. “…like the Santa’s Hat! But when you look at it like this…”

Theseus frowned in confusion, despite a warm feeling growing inside of him. How could Newt see so much in, in this thing? But a moment later, hearing Newt’s excitement, he started feeling better, and instead of focusing on the crooked shapes he tried to see what the kid was seeing. Okay, maybe from the right angle…

He smiled to himself, suddenly overwhelmed by his little brothers’ words. In a wave of warm emotions he quickly hugged Newt, making him stop his uncharacteristic monologue.

“'Seus!” he whined, trying to get away from him, but his brother playfully hugged him even harder. “What has gotten into you?” he said, pouting. That finally made Theseus release him from his clutches, laughing.

“Nothing, Newtty” he simply said. “Nothing at all.”

**Author's Note:**

> Come and yell at me on tumblr @shumscamander


End file.
